diff --git a/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.init.sql.jinja2 b/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.init.sql.jinja2
index dd8ee81..c8bc93a 100644
--- a/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.init.sql.jinja2
+++ b/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.init.sql.jinja2
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 CREATE USER {{db_user}} WITH PASSWORD '{{db_password}}';
 ALTER USER {{db_user}} CREATEDB;
-CREATE DATABASE {{db_name}};
+CREATE DATABASE {{db_name}} WITH ENCODING='UTF8';
 ALTER DATABASE {{db_name}} OWNER TO {{db_user}};
 GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE {{db_name}} TO {{db_user}};
diff --git a/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.re_init.sql.jinja2 b/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.re_init.sql.jinja2
index d9e25c6..e1b4261 100644
--- a/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.re_init.sql.jinja2
+++ b/share/templates/conf/database/files/db.re_init.sql.jinja2
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 DROP DATABASE {{db_name}};
-CREATE DATABASE {{db_name}};
+CREATE DATABASE {{db_name}} WITH ENCODING='UTF8';
 ALTER DATABASE {{db_name}} OWNER TO {{db_user}};
 GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE {{db_name}} TO {{db_user}};